UT football: Davis out to rediscover magic

AUSTIN — On his birth certificate, the expectations are clear. “Mike Magic Davis,” the document reads, and more than 20 years after it was filled out, he still feels obligated to live up to it.

When Davis reported for his junior season at Texas this summer, he asked to go by his middle name for the first time as a collegian. Last year, being just Mike wasn’t working. Plagued by personal problems that he declined to specify, Davis was admittedly unfocused and unproductive as a sophomore wide receiver, catching just 47 passes for 478 yards and only two touchdowns.

So this year, he felt the need to rediscover the identity he had as a boisterous high school star at Dallas Skyline.

“I feel like if I’m going to be Magic, I have to make magic plays,” Davis said. “I’ve got to hold myself up to that standard.”

He didn’t come close to magic in 2011. Explaining that his “mind slipped away from (him),” Davis wasn’t excited about playing football, and it showed. After a breakout freshman year, he was supposed to be the leader of UT’s wide receiver group, but his mind wandered. His intensity lagged. He wasn’t playing like the difference-maker he’d been as a freshman, and his teammates noticed.

“There were some times where he had some random drops,” fellow UT wideout Jaxon Shipley said. “That just wasn’t like him.”

At one point, Davis said, he even considered giving up football altogether and trying basketball.

“I’m not a quitter,” he said. “But I had thoughts and doubts.”

Now, he insists those doubts are gone. Davis said he worked through his issues with the help of guidance from former UT receivers Limas Sweed, James Kirkendoll and John Chiles. And he enters 2012 saying, “I’ve got my head on straight,” and, “I feel focused and energized and happy to be out there.”

The Longhorns are happy to have him. Coach Mack Brown and offensive play-caller Bryan Harsin have raved about his performance so far in preseason camp, and Davis said he’s ready to live up to the way they’re hyping him. He also said he likes hearing people say he’s overrated because of what happened last year, even if he stops short of saying he’s motivated to prove them wrong.

“I’m not trying to prove (any) points,” Davis said. “I’m just trying to play with passion.”